Public Relations

MEDIA RELATIONS

Overall Efforts
• The Bureau continued working with a public relations agency – Development Counsellors International of New York – to assist with the promotion of major events and projects planned for Greater Raleigh. All efforts resulted in more than $1.7 million of media exposure outside North Carolina – up 70 percent.

• The DCI program was highlighted by organized media opportunities in Atlanta, San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

• The Atlanta media tour featured pitches to CNN, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Magazine, TravelGirl, Art & Antiques and other outlets. The San Francisco effort involved the San Francisco Chronicle, Travel & Leisure, AAA VIA, Curve, Lonely Planet, KQED "Weir Cooking in the City, "KRON "Bay Area Backroads, "KUSF-FM, Epicurean Corner, Meetings East/South, Out & About and Platonic TV.

• Martin Armes and Ryan Smith executed a leadership role in planning and implementing a North Carolina media event in New York on March 23 hosted by NCACVB and NC Tourism. The cocktail reception attracted 31 journalists and 14 North Carolina attendees with the former representing the likes of the New York Daily News, Travel & Leisure, Meeting News, Successful Meetings, American Heritage and Woman's Day. While in New York, they also met individually with editors for Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, New York Post, House and Garden and freelancer Jerry Bartell who writes for Buffalo News, Newsday, Long Weekends and more. In fact, Bartell visited in May on assignment for Gay.com/PlanetOut and perhaps Asbury Park Press and New York Daily News.

• Smith attended the PRSA/SATW Tourism Conference and Media Marketplace in Denver. She also made eight media calls in Chicago with the likes of BET.com, Chicago Parent, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Inside Publications, Spa Management Journal, Travel America and Wellness Foods.

• The Bureau registered 875 media "hits" or "contacts" in local, statewide, national or international publications and broadcasts – down from 1,120 in 2003-2004 and an expected result due a significant tactical shift. Typically, the coverage featured Greater Raleigh as a destination, highlighted specific area attractions or touted the Bureau's involvement in various endeavors in outlets like Association Management Magazine, Association News, Boston Herald, Bus Tours Magazine, Chicago Sun Times, Columbus Dispatch, Continental Magazine, Country Living, Courier Magazine, EXPO Magazine, Food & Wine, Meeting Professional, Meetings South, Miami Herald, Multicultural Travel News, New York Daily News, Orlando Sentinel, San Francisco Chronicle, Southern Living, Toronto Star, Wall Street Journal, USAE and USA Weekend. The Bureau assisted potential future coverage on broadcast outlets like Food Network, Turner South, CNN, MTV, PBS, VH1 and CMT and others like Convention South, Black Meetings and Tourism, Chicago Tribune, Departures, Elite Traveler, Men's Journal, Family Travel Network, Travel America and Daily Oklahoman.

• The GRCVB hosted or assisted 43 travel writers -- down from 50 a year earlier -- representing the likes of Miami Herald, Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, City Smart, Passport Magazine, Gay.com, and major media outlets in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.

• Armes continued his extensive involvement in the North Carolina Golf Marketing Alliance by organizing the 5th Annual North Carolina Golf Challenge that brought 25 top-notch travel journalists and tour operators to the area for the U.S. Open. The four previous events generated more than $600,000 of editorial exposure about North Carolina golf and various destinations like Greater Raleigh. Crooked Creek Golf Club was a featured stop on the itinerary for prominent American, British, Canadian and German guests representing Air Canada, Ottawa Sun, Merit Golf, Ultimate Golf Vacations, Golf Digest, Great Lakes Golf Magazine, Golf International, Golf Aktuell, Whole World Golf and more.

• The Bureau assisted future television coverage on CBS as an Early Show producer was in the area filming promotional bumpers with North Carolina First Lady Mary Easley and segments at 42nd Street Oyster Bar, African-American Cultural Complex, Amazing Glaze in City Market, Big Ed's City Market Restaurant, Frisbee golf course at Cedar Hills Rotary Park, Playspace and Ray Price Harley Davidson.

• A 22-minute, 30-second episode on Raleigh was featured on the "3-Day Weekend" program on Turner South Network that premiered on November 4. Program aired a total of six times including on November 6 and 24, 2004, reaching more than 7 million households in the Southeast with an advertising value of almost $300,000.

• An integrated public relations campaign to promote the Matisse/Picasso exhibition generated more than 300 clips and reached more than 32 million in circulation in outlets in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, New York North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin in titles like New York Daily News, MeetingsSouth, Group Travel Leader, Miami Herald, The Virginian-Pilot, Chicago Sun Times, Detroit News, Chattanooga Times & Free Press, The State in Columbia, Orlando Sentinel, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Louisville Courier-Journal and Southern Living.

What's Ahead
• Continue working with Development Counsellors International to promote the many special events and major projects scheduled for Greater Raleigh, including the Fall 2006 Monet exhibition, new convention center and luxury hotel projects.

• Continue transition from group press trips to individual visits and focus on aforementioned events plus unique angles like BugFest, Raleigh International Spy Conference, Street Painting Festival and others.

• Focus efforts on Top 100 media list with emphasis on bolstering media coverage within key regional markets via two media road trips to seven cities targeting key newspaper, magazine, radio and television outlets.

• Initiate epicurean placement project targeting top culinary magazine and newspaper columnists.